Tessloff Verlag will be presenting its BOOKii digital audio pen with new products at the toy fair in Nürnberg today. The software for the audio pen, which has been available from retailers since last summer, was developed by the IT service provider adesso.

The new tools lets children playfully discover multimedia content in the matching audio pen books and products. They simply touch the tip of the audio pen on texts or images and the pen’s speaker plays information about the content, as well as sounds, music, stories, or puzzles and other tasks to make them think. It also supports read aloud and recording functions. That is all made possible by the mini camera housed in the tip of the pen, which reads pattern codes.

The software and IT platform for the new audio pen were developed by adesso. It includes a graphic development environment that models content, creates patterns for printing and generates assembler scripts. adesso also created a BOOKii media server for the publisher – it manages the content of audio pen books and distributes it to customers. When a customer buys a BOOKii, the intelligent software lets them use the associated content on their PC, and on Andoid and iOS mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. USB and Bluetooth interfaces also allow BOOKii users to watch videos and open web links using their devices.

Copyright: Tessloff Verlag/Rudi Ott

Tessloff Verlag has been publishing children’s non-fiction media for more than 60 years and has developed numerous titles for the BOOKii audio pen, including them as part of its WAS IST WAS Junior and WAS IST WAS Kindergarten children’s non-fiction series. The publisher’s BOOKii starter sets include the digital pen and an audio pen book. Among other things, they help children learn to tell the time, learn foreign languages and discover the human body. The system creatively combines knowledge sharing with games and fun activities to achieve a sustainable form of learning.

CTO Frank Dobelmann is responsible for software development at adesso: “This digitalisation project in publishing manages to combine the analogue world of books with digital opportunities in a fascinating way. It allows children of all ages to learn intuitively, while also playfully introducing them to the world of IT and digital content.”

Katja Meinecke-Meurer, CEO of Tessloff Verlag describes BOOKii as an “open system”. “We offer other publishers the opportunity to become BOOKii partners and develop corresponding products.” According to Meinecke-Meurer, a number of publishers are currently launching BOOKii products on the market. They include 1Buch, a print-on-demand publisher that adesso has invested in. Among other things, 1Buch is using the BOOKii technology for a book of children’s songs. It allows children to read the lyrics to well-known children’s songs while listening to the melodies with the pen.

Copyright: Tessloff Verlag/Rudi Ott

To get children interested in this form of interactive learning, while also developing their IT skills, adesso will be launching a sponsorship program for schools in the new year. It will be directly supported by its employees: Last year, approximately 300 “adessi” took part in corporate runs across Germany. In the past the IT service provider donated a fixed amount for every starter. This time adesso – in cooperation with Tessloff Verlag – will use the sporting commitment of its employees to offer selected primary schools BOOKii starter sets to try out. A total of 32 schools near the adesso locations in Dortmund, Berlin, Hamburg and Nuremberg are participating.

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